For starters, I'm not a Jack Daniel's officianado. Right now I'm getting slowly stewed drinking some cheap Paul Masson Brandy that I picked up on sale at a local establishment that lures you with the cheap stuff on sale then suckers your into paying for some high priced shit on the way out the door. (the good stuff was some rare two year old Willet Rye that when I finish that bottle, there won't be another one until Willet brews some more)

At any rate, I recently toured the Jack Daniel's distillery, which was a thoroughly quaint and entertaining way to spend an hour and a half if you're ever in the area. Bought a high priced bottle of JD Single Barrel at about 128 proof. Granted, this isn't the stuff you'll find on the counter at your local liquor store. But i find it quite excellent.

I do find Jack Daniel's generally to be a bit overpriced, and I do think they've sold out to the conglomerate bottom line of profit by watering down most of their good stuff to 80 proof. But I find a level of vitriol among whiskey purist aimed at Jack Daniel's that doesn't seem to exist toward other whiskey makers. For example, most drinkers seem ready to admit Jim Beam White Label is pretty cheap stuff, but I don't sense animosity toward Jim Beam that exists toward Jack Daniel's.

JD seems to be viewed as a traitor for dropping their Old #7 to 80 proof a few years back. (as have several other brands who didn't get skinned in the court of public opinion.) I don't think Jack Daniel's is all its cracked up to be, but don't think it's the worst of the lot either. I particularly find its honey liqueur to be downright tasty.

We all have our favorite brew, and mine can rotate depending on how my football alma mater did over the weekend or what rum I picked up on a Caribbean cruise vacation. Heck, my favorite memories involve a cheap beer called Schaeffer Light back in the college days when $1.99 would buy a 6 pack of the rotgut stuff. So, I'm not that picky.

I'd just like to hear some debate on what Jack Daniel's did to piss of so much of the serious whiskey drinking crowd, and why so many people still buy the stuff it it's all that bad.

They did some stuff some people didn't like (google it, it's not hard to find) - But hey, if you like JD then enjoy your JD mate. I'd argue there's better stuff in the same price range and proof, but no-one has to condemn it just because other people are. Find out why we poke needles into its name, nod your head in understanding, and carry on :)

Tarcek wrote:They did some stuff some people didn't like (google it, it's not hard to find) - But hey, if you like JD then enjoy your JD mate. I'd argue there's better stuff in the same price range and proof, but no-one has to condemn it just because other people are. Find out why we poke needles into its name, nod your head in understanding, and carry on :)

In germany Jim Beam is flooding the market with flavoured shit never seen before tsunami like. They are even worse in selling out right now. What they don`t have is the iconic logo on clothing, wall papers etc

Long story short, Brown Forman the parent company of JD lowered the proof from 86 to 80. The reason was said to be it opens up the flavor more with a bit of water. This we knew and each would water to our own tastes. We also believed it was a bullshit reason, assuming it was a bean counter move to reduce production cost and sell an inferior proof at the same if not an increased price. Which has now happened with all the specialty offerings at much higher prices.

Makers tried it a few years ago and social media blew the hell up. The backlash caused Makers to backpedal. Fast. If social media had been what it is today back when BF pulled their shit we may still have higher test JD.

The excuse (or one of the many) that they gave was that their research indicated that people prefer 80 proof liquor, so they were lowering theirs to give the people what they want. This is marketing circular logic. It was a money grab, and if they had just said so, there would have been less stink. Another thing is that they had lowered the proof one other time, years ago. All the while, the were advertising with the "same great recipe...tradition...just like Jack has made it all along" crap/lies.
Also, it's Tennessee whisky, which is the red-headed stepchild of Bourbon. Buncha wannabe's.

It's not just JD, it's any brand that lowers its proof/quality while giving a BS reason for doing so (or no reason at all). I am an avid Maker's drinker and went their during the height of that controversy and spoke to them in person about it. They had the sense to change their minds and retain the proper proof, otherwise there would be much animosity towards them as well.

Bourbon is my blood.

"Gren Label will rock on the show for me." bot rehan507

"women want to better express themselves. Dress up as their own performance this will be a lack of confidence." bot clshoo348

Blackneto wrote:As a Maker's Mark Ambassador I guess I'm required to pass on this news:

Dear Maker’s Mark® Ambassador,

Lately we’ve been hearing from many of you that you’ve been having difficulty finding Maker’s Mark in your local stores. Fact is, demand for our bourbon is exceeding our ability to make it, which means we’re running very low on supply. We never imagined that the entire bourbon category would explode as it has over the past few years, nor that demand for Maker’s Mark would grow even faster.

We wanted you to be the first to know that, after looking at all possible solutions, we’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%. This will enable us to maintain the same taste profile and increase our limited supply so there is enough Maker’s Mark to go around, while we continue to expand the distillery and increase our production capacity.

We have both tasted it extensively, and it’s completely consistent with the taste profile our founder/dad/grandfather, Bill Samuels, Sr., created nearly 60 years ago. We’ve also done extensive testing with Maker’s Mark drinkers, and they couldn’t tell a difference.

Nothing about how we handcraft Maker’s Mark has changed, from the use of locally sourced soft red winter wheat as the flavor grain, to aging the whisky to taste in air-dried American white oak barrels, to rotating our barrels during maturation, to hand-dipping every bottle in our signature red wax.

In other words, we’ve made sure we didn’t screw up your whisky.

By the way, if you have any comments or questions, as always, we invite you to drop us a line at rob@makersmark.com or bill@makersmark.com. Thanks for your support. And if you’ve got a little time on your hands, come down and see us at the distillery.

Sincerely,

Rob Samuels
Chief Operating Officer
Ambassador-in-Chief

Bill Samuels, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus
Ambassador-at-Large

This message was delivered to [blackneto@blackneto.com] because you are a Maker’s Mark Ambassador and chose to receive e-mails from us.

So there you have it. A quality establishment admitting up front that they are going to change their recipe and try to make more money at the same time.

R.A. went down there to bitch slap them into never pulling such a stunt again. Gently bitch-slap, since they make a fine tasting bourbon.

Resident Asshole wrote:I understand that Maker's Mark has already reversed their decision regarding lowering the ABV of their bourbon, but I plan on presenting this petition to them next month (and filming it) as a pre-emptive strike against all distillers regarding the watering down of their product. Signing will only increase your boozage.

Oh, and thanks to those who have already signed, I apologize for the worded assault. Slainte!